BelVita — a breakfast biscuit brand developed in France — has boarded the ship of Cap’n Crunch, rattled the cage of Tony the Tiger and proven in short order to be a breakfast powerhouse in the U.S. as cereal sales continue to decline.

Since launching in the U.S. in 2012, belVita has doubled its global annual sales to more than $600 million and emerged as one of Deerfield-based Mondelez International’s top-selling brands in North America, behind brands like Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers. Marketed as a healthy product that provides four hours of “nutritious steady energy” — a claim rejected by some health experts — belVita has found a strong and growing consumer base in the U.S.

Cereal sales, meanwhile, are declining at a steeper rate than cigarettes and canned soup, according to one Credit Suisse analyst. In recent years, American consumers have shown a willingness to pay more for products they consider to be healthier or more sustainably sourced. Mondelez recognized the shift in breakfast eating habits — as well as the time crunch of people living in more urban settings around the world — and pounced on the opportunity.

“We’ve essentially disrupted the breakfast occasion by capitalizing on macro trends sweeping the world and in the U.S.,” said Jason Levine, Mondelez’s chief marketing officer for North America.

Formerly owned by Groupe Danone, the brand was launched in France in 1998 as Petit Dejeuner. Kraft Foods — which split into Mondelez International and Kraft Foods Group in 2012 — acquired Danone’s biscuit and cereal business for about $7.8 billion in 2007.

In 2010, Petit Dejeuner was rebranded as belVita. Two years later, it was launched in North America and eventually expanded to include different flavors.

By then, American shoppers were already turning away from cereal for alternatives like granola bars and protein bars, but Mondelez used its marketing prowess to capitalize on that shift and effectively create a new segment for American consumers — the European-style breakfast biscuit, said Diana Sheehan, director of retail insights for Kantar Consulting, a sales and marketing consultancy.

“It was actually kind of brilliant,” Sheehan said.

American consumers have embraced belVita, which has so far grown sales in the U.S. by double digits every year, Levine said.

In the 12-month period ending Dec. 3, belVita brought in more than $341 million in sales in the U.S. — an increase of more than 18 percent from a year ago, according to figures from Chicago-based market research firm IRI, which do not include sales at Costco or via e-commerce.

Breakfast cereal remains big business, bringing in more than $8.4 billion in the 12-month period ending Nov. 23, according to Nielsen data. But it’s also been declining at an annual rate of 2.6 percent over the past four years, according to Nielsen.

Following belVita’s splash in the U.S. market, cereal giants Kellogg’s and General Mills introduced their own breakfast biscuits under the Nutri-Grain and Nature Valley brands, respectively. Other companies like Post Holdings and Quaker Oats are also now in the breakfast biscuit game.

For sustained success, belVita and other similar brands will have to evolve beyond the center store aisles that shoppers are visiting less frequently than in years past, Sheehan said.

“Yes, belVita is taking market share (from cereal), but on the other hand, so are things like eggs and yogurt,” Sheehan said.

As he walked out of a downtown Jewel-Osco recently, 33-year-old Nick Drafke said he preferred breakfast foods that aren’t processed and packaged. Drafke said he rarely eats cereal and wasn’t familiar with breakfast biscuits.

“Lately, I’ve been on an avocado rampage — avocado on toast with lime and salt. If I’m in a quick hurry, maybe a granola bar or something like that,” Drafke said.

Some nutritionists are not sold on the health benefits of breakfast biscuits, which are often sold among the cookies in grocery stores.

“Breakfast biscuits are a marketing ploy to sell cookies for breakfast,” said Lindsay Moyer, senior nutritionist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based health advocacy group. “You can do better than a cookie for breakfast.”

Moyer commended belVita for using whole grains but said the amount of added sugar, about two to three teaspoons per package, is up to 25 percent of daily value, which is based on a 2,000-calorie diet for healthy adults.

Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune

Fewer people are buying cereal, opting instead for items like belVita's breakfast biscuits.

Alternatives like oatmeal, plain yogurt with berries, or even some cereals like All-Bran Flakes are healthier choices, Moyer said.

And there’s also belVita’s claim of “four hours of nutritious steady energy,” which Moyer dismissed as more marketing than science.

Asked for evidence to back that claim, Mondelez spokesman Michael Mitchell said in an email that belVita products were made with “slow-release carbohydrates” that “take longer for the body to break down, resulting in a steady release of energy.”

Mitchell also provided a link to a Mondelez website called slowreleasecarbs.com that explains in greater depth how consumption of slowly digestible starches results in a steady release of glucose to the blood. The website cites numerous studies to back its claims, some of which were funded by Mondelez.

What’s clear is that belVita makes a healthy contribution to Mondelez’s business. It’s now the company’s fifth best-selling brand in the U.S., recently passing Triscuit and Trident in annual sales.

Robert Moskow, a Credit Suisse analyst who has researched cereal’s decline, said he was initially concerned that Kraft paid too much for Danone’s biscuit business back in 2007. Now he’s just baffled that cereal companies like Kellogg didn’t develop a breakfast biscuit first.

“It’s pretty clear that consumers wanted a more nutrient-dense, more convenient alternative to cereal,” Moskow said.